Nine homes in the area have been lost to the ocean in the past four years because of rising seas and storms that erode shorelines.

Over the past four years there have been nine house collapses, the National Park Service said. One house collapsed last month, possibly due to waves produced by Hurricane Ernesto despite being hundreds of miles from the Outer Banks, the Times reported.

Eight homes have fallen into the ocean in Rodanthe, N.C., since 2020, and more in the Outer Banks remain vulnerable to higher tides and looming storms.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore said the unoccupied oceanfront home fell early Sept. 20 in Rodanthe, a roughly 215-mile drive southeast from Raleigh. The house is the eighth to collapse in the area during the past four years.

Two more Outer Banks houses have collapsed within the same day in Rodanthe, North Carolina, the eighth and ninth to do so in the past four years.